(The Power That Shapes Us and the Cost of Separation)
June 7th brings the believer into a searching question: what is actually governing the life? Not what occasionally occupies the attention, but what exerts the deepest influence. And once the believer understands what evil truly does to communion with God, he begins to see why Scripture speaks so strongly about hating it.
We Become Shaped by What Governs Us
Chambers writes:
“It is not on what we spend the greatest amount of time that molds us the most, but whatever exerts the most power over us.” (My Utmost for His Highest)
Chambers directs attention beneath outward activity.
A person may spend many hours engaged in necessary responsibilities, work, family obligations, or daily routines. Yet these things are not necessarily what shape the deepest character of the life.
What shapes the life is whatever holds the governing influence.
What captures the affections. What commands the attention. What becomes the source from which decisions and responses proceed.
This is why the question of sonship is ultimately a question of government.
The believer is continually moving from one source or another.
Either the life is being governed by the Father’s will as revealed through the Son, or it is being governed by self-interest, fear, ambition, pride, or some other competing influence.
The issue is not merely activity.
The issue is authority.
What rules the life shapes the life.
Why Evil Must Be Hated
Spurgeon writes:
“Thou hast good reason to ‘hate evil,’ for only consider what harm it has already wrought thee.” (Morning and Evening)
Spurgeon approaches evil from a practical standpoint.
The believer is not called to hate evil merely because it violates an abstract rule. Evil is hated because of what it does.
It separates.
It darkens perception.
It weakens communion.
It turns the life inward upon itself and away from the Father’s purpose.
Throughout Scripture, sin is not presented merely as the breaking of commands. It is the continual tendency of the life to depart from its true source and move independently.
This is why evil becomes so destructive.
It promises freedom, yet produces bondage.
It promises fulfillment, yet diminishes life.
It promises independence, yet separates the life from the very communion for which it was created.
The believer learns to hate evil not primarily because of punishment, but because he begins to see its true effect.
Where the Two Meet: What Governs the Life Determines Its Direction
These truths meet at a single point.
Whatever exerts the greatest power over the life eventually determines its direction.
If communion with the Father governs the life, the life moves toward the manifestation of the Son.
If self-will governs the life, separation follows.
This is why evil must be resisted.
Not merely because it is forbidden, but because it competes for government.
One truth identifies the controlling influence. The other exposes the destructive nature of every rival influence.
The believer increasingly learns that spiritual growth is not primarily about adding more activities, but about remaining under the right government.
Pastoral Orientation
June 7th calls for examination and alignment.
Do not ask merely how you spend your time. Ask what exerts the greatest influence over your life.
Do not treat evil lightly. Consider what it seeks to take from communion with God.
As you continue walking “after the spirit,” you will find that the life becomes increasingly shaped by whatever governs it most deeply. Therefore, remain occupied with the Father, responsive to the Son, and attentive to the operation of divine life within.
Examine what governs you. Remain under the Father’s rule.
And you will discover a life that is not shaped by competing influences, but steadily formed through communion, obedience, and the life of the Son.